


I Paint the World in Black and White

by astudyinfic



Category: Whyborne and Griffin - Jordan L. Hawk
Genre: Colorblindness, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, POV First Person, Romance, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 20:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18977743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astudyinfic/pseuds/astudyinfic
Summary: Whyborne always experienced the world in black, white, and grey.For Griffin, color was an explosion of sight and of sound.Griffin's way of experiencing color allows him to help Whyborne feel it too, and they grow closer as a result.





	I Paint the World in Black and White

**Author's Note:**

> Two notes. In this fic, Whyborne has complete colorblindness (achromatopsia). It is very rare but worked perfectly for the prompt. Griffin, on the other hand, has chromesthesia and experiences colors as sounds and sounds as colors.
> 
> It is based off [this prompt](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/538012093861986344/546045830994329620/52591501_10213603153692975_5126465873514594304_n.png) that I found...somewhere.

I can still remember the first time the subject was broached between us.  It wasn’t long after our first case together and I received the most unusual note from Griffin, one that piqued my curiosity enough to counteract my nerves at seeing him once more.

_ Whyborne, _

_ Your assistance was quite invaluable with the last case and I would like to offer you my assistance with something else. _

_ If you are amiable, please meet me at my home this evening where we can discuss it further. _

_ Yours, _

_ Griffin Flaherty _

I couldn’t imagine what help he might offer me.  Sure there were a few moments that passed between us where it felt like we both desired the same things but he was a man of the world and I had no desire to ever leave my home.  Our lives were incompatible, no matter how much I wished differently. 

Still, curiosity got the best of me and I found myself on his doorstep that evening, heart stuttering in my chest as I waited for him to answer.  It came to a shocked stop when I saw him on the other side of the door. How he was even more beautiful than I remembered, I did not know. We had seen each other only two days prior and parted with a kiss that still made my toes curl when I thought about it, but even that short amount of time dampened my memory of his handsome face.  The truth was, he was the most attractive man I had ever met and I couldn’t imagine why he would be interested in spending any time with me. Surely he could have any man or woman that interested him and I was just a boring scholar.

“Whyborne, I’m so glad you could come.”  Griffin stepped aside and let me in and I thought my heart was pounding so loud that he might be able to hear it when he led me into the room, closing the door firmly behind him.  “I hope I am not pulling you away from anything important tonight, my dear.”

When I shook my head, he gestured for me to take a seat.  It took a moment to find my voice before I said, “I wouldn’t have come if I had somewhere else to be.”  Which wasn’t exactly true but he didn’t need to know that my affection for him already overrode many of my other interests and desires. It would be better for my work when he moved on to the next city that needed a detective like him.

It would be worse for me, though.  I could already feel the loneliness that would come once he was gone.

“Is there a new case you require my assistance on, Detective Flaherty?”  I could think of no other reason why he would wish to see me.

“No, Whyborne.  I actually thought I might be able to help you with something.”  Watching the normally confident detective wringing his hands and glancing away had me on edge.  Whatever could make Griffin Flaherty nervous was probably not something I wanted to deal with. We had fought monsters and my own family without him looking half as nervous as he did at this moment.  It was worrisome, to say the least. “When we were working the case, you told me that you couldn’t see some colors.”

I blinked, unsure what this had to do with anything but I made it no secret, so I nodded.  “To be honest, I don’t see any colors. I’ve been told everything I see is either grey, white, or black.  Why?”

If possible, Griffin looked even more nervous.  “Because I don’t see color the same way other people do and I hoped I might be able to help you.”  No one besides Christine had ever managed to make color understandable to me and yet, deep down, I wanted to believe that Griffin could help me.  “I can see color,” he explained. “But I can also hear it.” When I frowned, he continued, “Or, more accurately, every color I see has a sound associated with it.  I’ve encountered other people that taste color or feel color, but for me, it is sound.”

As far as I’ve known it, the world has always been shades of grey.  Occasionally, a soft tint might make it through, giving a strange hue to something I’d only known to be plain in the past but, for the most part, there was nothing in my world but greys and black and white. 

For many, it might seem an imposition, a hindrance.  I received a lot of pity in my early years from my tutors and nannies who all tried desperately to get me to understand the difference between shades I could not see. But I didn’t mind.  Grey was comforting. Grey was constant. Grey didn’t change or shift. It didn’t shock me or offend my senses the way colors might. 

It didn’t bother me.  I accepted the lack of color in my life the same way I accepted my father’s scorn or the fact that I would never marry.  Nothing would change any of those things, so there was no reason to dwell on it. 

But the opportunity to spend time with Griffin and hear how he experienced the world?  I couldn’t pass that up, no matter how much more it would hurt when he finally moved on.  “You don’t mind? Christine has tried and she has been moderately successful, more than anyone else.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I minded,” he said with a smile, almost echoing my words from earlier.  “And if it gives me an excuse to spend more time with you, then I would jump at the chance.” 

I felt my cheeks flush with heat and I looked away.  I didn’t understand why he would say those things, to mock me the way he was.  For there was no way he was serious. “You don’t have to say things like that.” Because it would only make me want him more.

Griffin smiled then, and the humor in his eyes confused me like he knew something I didn’t.  Of course, he probably did. He knew of the world outside of Widdershins. He was worldly in ways I never would be.  

He was everything I wanted and could never have. 

We agreed for him to help me with color and I would help him with whatever cases needed my particular expertise.  A part of me never expected to see him again, even though I was quickly learning that Griffin Flaherty was not a man to break a promise.  

Our first lesson turned out to be on his next case.  As we sat together in the library beneath the museum, heads bowed to see the text in the dim light, Griffin spotted something I could not.  The color made invisible on the page and it turned out to be the clue we needed. “Do you not see that, Whyborne?” he asked, close enough that the warmth of his breath ghosted over my skin.  

Ashamed, I shook my head, looking down at the page.  “I have to assume that it is in a color that I cannot see.  As far as I can tell, there is nothing in that space. Could you draw it for me?”  How many other things in all these books had I missed because I couldn’t see the shade they were written in?  How much easier a time would I have had with my career if I could see the way everyone else could? The thought chilled me to the bone, almost a relief after the constant heat that pumped through my system whenever Griffin was near.

Griffin drew it carefully, recreating it with meticulous detail, knowing how important it might be.  When I realized it was probably nothing but made a note to ask Christine if she’d seen anything like it in her travels, I breathed a sigh of relief.  But the moment brought many questions to my mind, ones I would never have considered asking before Griffin came into my life. “What color is it?” To me, it was black on black, though if I squinted, I might be able to detect a small amount of difference in the two areas.  

“This is a dark red while this is brown,” he explained patiently, pointing to each section.  But where some people might have just left it at that and moved on, Griffin continued. “The red is the same color as the brick this building is made of.  It sounds like a horse at full gallop.” 

I froze, turning to stare at him with something akin to awe.  Christine once told me “That excitement over a new find? Red gives you the same sort of feeling.  Orange is the heat of the late afternoon sun.” While I couldn’t understand the color exactly, she gave me more clues as to what it was like to experience color than anyone else. 

But Griffin’s understanding of it gave me even more insight into the color than I could have ever expected.  Because a horse at full gallop was something I knew and I could clearly associate that with a feeling. I would have to ask Christine how she would describe that particular shade when I showed her the text.  

“And the brown?” I asked, wanting nothing more than to experience the color through Griffin’s eyes.  And ears, it seemed. 

Griffin frowned and looked at the color once more.  “The sound of the wind blowing in from the Draakenwood.”  

I shivered, thankful I could not see that particular color.  It sounded as dreadful as that wind felt. 

But despite how horrible the color sounded, I had a better understanding of it now because of Griffin.  And here in the recesses of the Ladysmith library, away from any prying eyes who could see us, Griffin gave me color for the first time in my life.  

Without thought, I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, needing to express everything I was feeling where words would have been inadequate.  His gasp against my lips had me pulling back but his hand went out and wrapped around the back of my neck, pulling me close to kiss me once more.  At that moment, I felt every color in the world exploding inside my chest. No sound, no color, nothing could make me feel half as much as this simple kiss with the man who captured my heart.

I still don’t understand why Griffin loves me.  It makes no sense that a man like him would feel anything for a man like me.  But he does and it isn’t something I will ever take for granted. Now, my life is filled with color in a way I never expected.  His descriptions bring the world around me to life, add vibrancy to the life we share. Of course,  _ Griffin _ adds that vibrancy all on his own, with or without his descriptions of the colors that paint our world.  

Saul’s fur is the crackle of the fire in our fireplace on a cold winter’s evening.  

My favorite of his waistcoats is the rustle of papers in my small office.  

The car my father bought for him was the tune of “Blood on the Altar”, a fact that amused me and horrified him.  

And my magic?  The first time he saw it for himself, Griffin said it was the sizzle of cold water in a hot pan, a sound that reminded him of something plain and ordinary becoming charged and powerful.  He kissed me after that, long and hard. “That might describe your magic, my dear,” he whispered against my lips, holding me flush against him. “But you have never been plain or ordinary.  You’ve always been the most spectacular thing in the world to me. No color or sound could compare.”

When I looked at him, I felt the same way.  Griffin was vibrant and all-consuming. Everything else was just...grey.

**Author's Note:**

> A big thanks to [Bonibaru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonibaru) for cheerleading me through this fic.


End file.
